Seton quotes [John] Audubon & [John] Bachman from Quadrupeds of North America (1849-1851) regarding an encounter with a jaguar. One of the great creatures was following a Colonel Hays, apparently out of curiosity. Hays noted that the cat was looking “’right in his eye and gently waving his tail…the skin was so beautiful it was a pleasure to look at it.’” So he killed it.”
Curiosity did kill the cat in this case and the irony of it was not lost on Seton.
I have included a few more big cats that to me display cat-ness without providing enough detail that I know which species Seton meant to display.
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